Mental Checkmate
by Irk Splee
Summary: After spending all this time crossing the board, the Knight and his Pawns are ready to scale the Castle and take down the King. (alternate ending to the conclusion for Mal's arc)


**I hated the reset button.**

**I've been defending All Stars all season, and defending Mike's writing for as long as he's existed. I never had nearly as many problems with the season or the character as a lot of people seemed to.**

**But I have a _lot_ of issues with that awful rest button.**

**And so, I've written an alternate conclusion to Mal's arc. I don't normally like contradicting canon just because I don't like it, but the reset button made me angrier than I thought fiction could manage. Any post-All Stars fics I write from here on out will act on the assumption that this is what happened, the other alters are still around, and Mal is still lurking in the shadows.**

**Not. A RESET BUTTON.**

* * *

Mike fixed his eyes on the purple light at the top of the staircase. With his sense of time skewed, he couldn't tell how long he'd spent crossing his brain's landscape, finding the others, making it to the tower, and climbing all these stairs. He could only say that it'd been way too long, and that the journey had left him exhausted, in a strange, strictly-mental way that he'd never felt before. The alters seemed equally drained, with the way they hunched and panted from climbing this far; except for Chester, of course, who had hitched a ride on Mike's back.

But they were almost to the top. Their mission may have been close to ending; it all depended on what gave off that light.

Mike stumbled forward on his first step at the top, bringing both himself and Chester to the floor. After climbing for so long, his feet weren't used to level ground. Once they both picked their weary bodies back up, Mike focused on the single room at the top of these stairs. An ornate throne sat in the middle of the room. Gold formed the frame, and a glowing, diamond-shaped amethyst surrounded by smaller circle ones decorated the headrest. A similarly decorated crown sat on the throne's purple velvet seat.

"It zeems ve have reached ze hall of ze mountain king!" Svetlana announced excitedly. Rather than equal cheers, however, this only earned her blank stares from the other alters.

"The what now?" Vito asked.

"You know, ze song Mal alvays does ze whistling of?" Svetlana tried to explain. After the others only reacted with further blank stares, she huffed. "Vell, at least _someone_ in zis mind has culture."

Mike ignored their bickering as he glanced around the room. Various treasures, most made of gold, hung on the walls and filled the corners in disorganized piles. Swords of all sizes, each one with an elaborate hilt, filled one section of the wall. Mal truly lived like the king he thought he was up here.

"So, whadda we do now?" Vito asked. "We got up here, but Mal's out there. So how does this help us?"

"I've got an idea," Mike said as he approached the swords. He wrapped his hand around the golden hilt of a medium-sized sword and removed it from the wall. "Hey, Mal!" he called. "We made it to your throne room! We're all free now! You thought you had us trapped, but we made it out! All five of us!"

"Now get in here before we start smashin' stuff!" Vito joined in, punching his palm for good measure.

"There's no way out, ya slimy jellyfish," Manitoba said. "You'll have to come back in here sometime."

"Let's just get this over with, ya punk!" Chester said.

"Zis room is so tacky!" Svetlana said with a tone of disgust. "So much purple!"

A figure flickered in front of the throne, and once his presence became clear, Mal surveyed the group that had invaded his space in Mike's head.

"So you all made it. I never thought I'd see this." Mal sighed heavily. "I should have just eliminated you all when I had the chance. It's not as if you were of any use. Vito, you especially. Your jokes are _terrible._"

"Yo!"

"So, what is it you want from me?" Mal asked. "I should have you know that our body was underwater when you called me in here, so unless you want to drown out there, I suggest you make this quick."

"It's over, Mal," Mike said as he pointed his sword at him. "You lost."

Mal gave a sharp, cold laugh. "Really? You really think that's it?" He lifted his crown from the throne and placed it upon his head. "You thought it'd be that simple? That just because you made it this far, you've won?" Mal waved his hand, and a stick of brain matter appeared in his hand. The matter formed into a sword unlike anything hanging on the wall. It was nearly twice the size of Mike's chosen weapon, and yet Mal still lifted it in one hand with ease. What appeared to be black iron formed the hilt, with iron, demonic wings coming out of the sides of the top of the hilt where it met the steel blade. "You thought it'd be so easy to take down the rightful king of this mind?!" Mal lunged at Mike with the sword, and Mike only managed to lift his own in defense at the last second.

"Who says you have any right to be in charge around here?" Mal asked. "What could a boring little thing like you possibly have to offer? Weak little Mike, couldn't cope with life on his own, so he made himself some imaginary friends to do things for him..."

Mike cringed as he pushed his sword against Mal's, but all the pushing did was delay the inevitable. No matter how much strength Mike tried to muster, he couldn't push Mal back any further.

"And it's not just us. What about that stupid girl you call yours? Zoey? She couldn't even see what was right in front of her face this whole time. And that's the girl you've depended on so long? You're so weak that you need to depend on someone so blind?"

"Leave Zoey out of this!" Mike screamed, but it didn't matter. Mal pushed his blade closer to Mike, and Mike's grip on his own sword weakened. Every one of Mal's words cut deeper than his blade ever could, and the longer Mal spoke, the more Mike wondered if this fight was even worth it.

"You made me to be stronger than you, Mike, and that's exactly what I am. And I'm using that strength to take rightful control."

"STOP IT!" Svetlana shouted. "Who says Mike is veak? Vould someone so veak have made it zis far, Mal? He escaped you! He helped us escape! He vas stronger than your trappings!"

"You're a COWARD!" Mal snarled. "You couldn't face me, and that's what got you trapped in the first place!"

"Hey, would a coward go marchin' into your room and wavin' a sword in your face?" Vito asked.

"It's taken some lumps, but Mike's grown a lot," Manitoba said. "This ain't the same roo you locked up."

"Yes! He's learned a lot on zis journey!" Svetlana said. "Zings I already knew! Mike is determined! Ambitious! Caring! All much, much better qualities for a leader zan your cruel strength!"

Determined... Mike pushed harder against Mal and managed to push him away just a bit. He tightened his grip on his sword and grounded his feet, ready to continue to fighting Mal off.

"If he weren't so ambi- am- what ol' Twinkle Toes said, ya think he'd be up here?" Vito asked. "He broke my chain with your stupid puppet! That's gotta be SOMETHIN'!"

"I just don't wanna be ruled over by some ne'er-do-well with his hair in his eyes!" Chester said. "At least Mike looks more respectable!"

"Fight him off, mate," Manitoba said. "We need you a lot more than we need this nasty croc."

Mike pushed again and made Mal stumble backwards as his alters' encouraging words continued filling his mind.

"So brave, even in ze face of ze likes of you!"

"Loyal to his sheila!"

"I don't wanna admit it, but the guy's got more moves than I do!"

"I WON'T LOSE TO YOU, MAL!" Mike cried, and with a final push of Mike's sword, Mal's dropped down to the tiled floor. It turned back into brain matter, then blew away as a wisp. Mike held the tip of his sword mere inches from Mal's throat. The sword shook as Mike's body heaved with heavy breaths, but after all the encouragement, he felt stronger than he ever had on this entire adventure.

"It's not just about power, Mal," Mike said. "I'm stronger than you've ever been."

Mal backed away from the sword, his eyes fixed with a glare on Mike's face. "So that's all you've got? You try hard? You care about people? Where's that going to get you in life?"

"I don't know," Mike admitted. "I don't know where I'm going yet... but wherever that is, I think I'll enjoy it better if I bring friends with me instead of trying to be stronger and better than anyone else." He advanced on Mal as quickly as Mal retreated, eventually cornering him against his throne. Mike jabbed the sword at Mal, not close enough to actually stab, but he instinctively jumped back and fell onto his throne. The impact jostled his crown from his head, and it rolled across the floor, far out of his reach.

"People will betray you, Mike!" Mal insisted. "You're a freak! The world is just waiting to bring you down! They'll never fully accept you! If you want to succeed, you need to fight! You can't depend on the kindness of others! No one has any kindness for people like you! All they have is pity!"

Mike shook his head. "I've thought that for years... but I don't believe it anymore."

Shackles sprung out of the chair and bound Mal's thighs to the seat and his wrists to the armrests.

"What the?!" Mal cried as he struggled to stand again, but the shackles wouldn't budge. "You can't keep me here forever, Mike! You couldn't last time, remember? I'll come back! You'll never defeat me for good!"

"You're right, Mal. I won't," Mike said. He dropped his sword to the floor, turned his back and walked toward the stairs. "I know I'll see you again. But next time, I won't make the same mistakes." The other alters except Svetlana followed him out, but Svetlana instead approached Mal's throne and stood just out of his reach.

"Zee you, Mal!" she mocked, followed up with a raspberry. Mal snarled and snapped his teeth at her, causing her to squeal and run to catch up with the others.

"So, what now?" Mike asked.

"What do ya mean what now, silly dingo?" Manitoba asked. "Don't you got a million big ones to win?"

"And a pasty chick to make out with?" Vito asked.

"Ve'll take care of zings here," Svetlana said. "You go reclaim vat's yours, and ve'll lock up zis tower."

"All right... thank you," Mike said. "Thank you for everything... especially the encouragement back there."

"Do keep in mind that ve are all a part of you," Svetlana said. "It's nothing you didn't already know."

"Well, I guess I needed you guys to point it out," Mike said with a laugh.

"Don't think it means we'll give you an easy time for good," Vito said. "This is just for today."

Mike laughed again. "Wouldn't want that to change, Vito."

"This is sweet and all," Chester said, "but didn't Mal say something about drowning earlier?"

Mike gasped in panic, and without another word, reclaimed his body just as things should have been.


End file.
